September 2015

For the first 8 months of the year, Brussels Airport noted a cargo growth of 10,6%. Even without taking into account the difficult landscape in the world and Europe more specifically, this is a very good performance and in line with the results we saw at the end of last year.

Cargo transported on passenger aircraft saw a modest increase of 2%, but both the integrator traffic as well as the full freighter traffic increased by a strong 7.6% and 25.5% respectively. We welcomed several new carriers and routes, contributing to this growth and enlarging the network we can offer from Brussels Airport. For the months to come, we expect the results to be in line with the growth so far.

The second wave of pharma certification at Brussels Airport is running on schedule. The second group of the 21 participating companies is currently being audited, so that all partners have a clear understanding how to strictly apply the IATA CEIV pharma standards. This will bring all participants to the same high quality level, contributing to reliable and transparent handling of pharma shipments at Brussels Airport.

In this respect a second training cycle for the CEIV pharma program will be organised in October. Some seats remain available for this IATA training which will be attended by forwarders, airlines, handling agents and pharma shippers. Do not hesitate to subscribe if you want to participate, as it will be the last training sessions in BRU for now. Need more info? Contact us!

Meanwhile, the Brussels cargo community is gathering around Flanders Pharma Hub, its new pharma innovation project. BRUcargo based handling agents, forwarders, airlines and truckers are working together in this improvement program.

A first goal is to set up 100% controlled temperature transport on airside for pharmaceutical shipments. The guaranteed temperature ranges have been defined by several pharma shippers involved in the project. These pharma shippers will also take part in the testing of the transport solution, planned for the last quarter of this year.

A second goal is the creation of a uniform and robust benchmark pharma booking procedure at Brussels Airport.  This will ensure that the instructions from the pharma shipper are correctly transferred and applied by all stakeholders throughout the entire cool chain. The risk profile of pharma lanes through BRU will benefit from this initiative.

Since a few years, Brussels Airport has a dedicated cargo team taking care of the overall strategy and development of the cargo zone. Due to the increased workload and our clear strategy to be the leading gateway when it comes to the transport of time and temperature critical shipments, we have decided to strengthen our team with a Cargo Product and Development Manager. 

At the end of September, Jan Segers will join our team. Jan is well known at BRUcargo and beyond, and brings more than 30 years experience in air cargo logistics. Together with Jan, we will be even better placed to build BRUcargo and serve our customers.

Our new community platform in the cloud is gradually coming to life. After finishing the development of our community platform, our first applications are being delivered. The very first application is a data statistics application, allowing Brussels Airport to gain a better insight in cargo flows. 

For any selected period, we will now be able to see how cargo is being transported, from where, final destination, via which transit airport, by road or by air, special commodities, etc. This will allow us to work more detailed on infrastructure and procedures as well as on marketing to create better market conditions for all at BRUcargo.

Future applications are being developed and discussed in project groups with all stakeholders involved.

As many of you may already know, the central administrative building (number 706) of BRUcargo is undergoing a complete renovation. By now, 3 floors have been entirely refurbished: new floors, new ceiling, new walls, new electricity, new climatisation, … Reason enough to come and visit us! 

A lot of customers are already, or will be in the next few weeks, enjoying their brand new offices. The cargo team of Brussels Airport moved to a refurbished zone on the sixth floor and now houses in state of the art offices. 

At the same level, a meeting room complex is available and will, amongst others, be used by CTC (Cargo Training Center). 

And, as regular visitors may have noticed, there is more to come! Early next year, a new catering facility and restaurant will open its doors on the ground floor. Currently the old restaurant is being moved out, and a complete new and up to standards catering infrastructure will be built at the same location. Opening as said at the beginning of 2016!